This technician also said the baby is a GIRL, so we're getting pretty excited! Everything looks good, but I have yet another sonogram scheduled for 9/1 to get spine pictures. I hope the baby isn't this uncooperative AFTER she's born!
The excitement this week was that Wednesday evening our power went out. We used the TV-free time to pick girls' names by candlelight.
Thursday the power was STILL out, so we had dinner with Dad, Conchita, Erica, Justin, and Mike.
By Friday, Josh went off to WV to visit Brian and I took Jonathan out to Cheeburger Cheeburger for dinner, since nothing in our fridge was edible anyway.
Luckily the power was back on when we got back from dinner and we recovered easily with a big grocery shopping trip on Saturday.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: After the power outage pow-wow and several follow up discussions, we've finalized our name for the baby: Welcome,
Laura Elizabeth Scott!
The week was just as crazy as the weekend! Daddy finally got to feel Laura kick while I was laying in bed one
morning, and Thursday we brought home our new doggie, Pepper (pictures on - you guessed it -
Jonathan's website. Pepper (originally named Lu Lu, poor thing) was adopted
through the Montgomery County Humane Society, where we also adopted Cassie and Elmer. She's a black lab/shepherd mix, who
is about 4 years old. She's VERY smart and super sweet! And she loves Jonathan to boot (we have pictures to prove it!) She's a welcome addition to our family.
Boy, is Baby Laura coming into a crazy house!
Week 25
Week 27
Week 23
So, with Josh out of town for the weekend, I got to introduce Jonathan to the Public Library! We checked out 5 books, including "Goodnight Moon," which we're now going to have to
buy because Jonathan is so hooked on "Goodnight, Nobody." We also explored a little and found a new park right down
the street from our house that has both a "bridge" and a "tunnel" - Jonathan's two favorite activities at the playground.
See
Jonathan's website
for pictures of the park from when we brought Daddy back with us.
(Of course, we'll have a boy's name picked out just in case these sonograms missed something.)
Week 24
Another exciting, very busy week! On Saturday, we took
Jonathan to see the Redskins scrimmage Ravens in Baltimore. It was a great time for Jonathan, eating hot dogs in the sun
while watching a sport he's only ever seen on TV. He now knows the words to, "Hail to the Redskins" and knows how to wave
his big foam #1 finger. Sunday was our 6th wedding anniversary, so we celebrated by leaving Jonathan with Todd and Muthoni
and going out for dinner and a movie. We spent a few moments reflecting on how different life is now compared to 6 years
ago!
Finally, I'm back up to date with the website again! This weekend started with a relaxing "Girls Day Out" with Allyson, Kristina, Chris, and Emily, complete with a manicure and pedicure.
(I'm thinking I better get used to this stuff, with a girl on the way!) Afterward, Allyson and Robert hosted a BBQ, and we let the kids
and husbands join in. We all got to meet Kristina and Matt's baby girl, Katie, who is now two months old! Jonathan tried very hard
to be good, but at one point he was just too curious about the baby and started poking her eyes! (Yes, Jonathan, babies have eyes!)
I'll try not to worry about Baby Laura too much - hopefully Jonathan will treat his sister nicely! Laura is now weighs over a
pound and is about a foot long! She becomes a "viable baby" this week, which means she has a good chance of survival if she was born today. By 28 weeks, she's got a 90% survival rate (go modern medicine.) Luckily, there have been no complications to this point, so it looks like we're going to have another LONG wait ahead of us.
Weeks 26 - 30
Week 26
I had another doctor's appointment this week. Everything going great, but I need to start watching my weight (again).
I'm still within good limits for overall weight gain, but the past few weeks I have been gaining too quickly.
Baby Laura is about 9 inches and 2 pounds this week.
This weekend Benjamin had a concert at the Lyceum in Virginia - Jonathan and I stayed home to play, but joined
everyone for dinner in celebration. I posted a few pictures on Jonathan's summer page. The excitement this week was the last (hopefully) of my formal sonograms!
The technician was nice and didn't let me leave until he had run my sonogram pictures past the doctor to make sure they really had all of the measurements
they needed this time. Everything is looking good, and Baby Laura still looks like a girl. Here is her ultrasound picture:
Week 28
Week 29
Week 30
Week 32
Week 33
We celebrated Jonathan's 2nd birthday this weekend - can you believe he's TWO? Rereading his pregnancy journal and looking over
all of his pictures - it's just so amazing to see how he's grown! We celebrated on Friday at daycare, then on Saturday at
home with family - both parties had a Blue's Clues theme. The pictures are up on Jonathan's birthday page. On Sunday, Josh
and I drove to Philadelphia to see best friend Josh get married. Congratulations! I'll post a picture on our Weddings page soon.
We took a break and took a trip to the beach this weekend. Jonathan has grown to love the beach, now that he's older.
There are some wonderful pictures on his fall page. We also got to visit my mom, who recently relocated to Delaware, making
it so everyone in my immediate family has a Delaware zip code now. I also had another doctor appointment this week
- everything is still peachy, and I still need to watch my weight (surprise, surprise).
This weekend we took Jonathan to the City of Gaithersburg Festival. We had SO much fun listening to an a cappella group,
playing in sand boxes, meeting "Dr. Broccoli," and looking at antique cars. It was a great family outing, and Jonathan keeps asking if we can
go to the festival again. At work, this is a busy travel week for me: Monday I'm flying to Nashville and back, then Wed-Fri
I'm off to Orlando. I love to travel, so it's exciting, but it's still tiring to pile it all into one week. This is the
last of my air travel for a while - I can imagine it will be some time before Josh will want to stay home with two babies while I'm off in another city!
Weeks 31 - 35
Week 31
This week we celebrated one of our co-worker's 25th Anniversary with the company. It was inspirational to say the least! I also had
yet another doctor appointment. At this appointment I confirmed with my doctor that I would like to try VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). You can read more about it here:
Womens Health Channel
Babycenter
This week, we celebrated Rosh Hashanah dinner at Ron's house, and finally started work on basement. I also spent some time registering
our family for LOTS of baby classes! We've got a "sibling tour" of the hospital for Jonathan as well as a "refresher" course, a VBAC class, and a hospital tour for Josh and I. It's going to be a busy November!
Josh ran off for his last weekend of freedom at Brian's. It was a *LONG* weekend (figuratively and literally) with Jonathan, although
it was really nice to get some alone time with him before the baby is born. There's just something about two year olds - they can be
so sweet one minute and so out-of-control the next. It's crazy! I had another doctor's appointment (after my next appointment on Nov. 1, I'll be going every week, so you can assume I've had another doctor appointment ... and another ... and another). I'm still doing great - relatively little swelling (especially compared
to my pregnancy with Jonathan), and I've only gained a 1/2 pound in the past two weeks. Yay! Work on the basement continues. And Josh snuck in a picture of my preggo belly, since everyone has been asking to see it.
Week 35
Week 37
A relaxing weekend for Jonathan and I while Daddy finished his schoolwork and studied for his final exam. Sunday we finally got out from
all the rain and took a trip to the park to celebrate the Redskins victory. Ask Jonathan to sing the Redskins fight
song for you sometime.
Weeks 36 - Birth!
Week 36
This weekend we spent a majority of our time painting in the basement. Only a ceiling and a floor to go! I went to a Halloween party
at Emily and David's house (pictures coming soon). We're looking forward to Halloween this week, as well as another doctor's appointment,
where they'll do a final ultrasound to make sure Baby Laura is in the right position for birth. Can you believe that by the end of this week,
she is 6 pounds? Her major development is done - just "baby fat" and lung development to go!
This weekend, we finished the new office ceiling and floor, as well as the basement floor (thanks to Mike for the extra help!), and the shelves for the entertainment center. Enjoy these pictures of a preggo working on home renovations!
Week 38
Week 39
Jonathan moved into his new room this weekend (pictures are up on his Fall picture pages). After a few sleepless nights, he settled right in and now gets excited to sleep in his "big kid" bed, which is shaped like a race car. Josh and I had our
second Lamaze refresher class, where we learned more about the stages of birth, and got to relax with pillows and blankets (our favorite part). Thanks to Oma and Grandpa, Todd and Muthoni, and Grandma Chita for all the babysitting help so we
could take these classes. We also attended a VBAC class this week, which reinforced our decision to try for a natural birth this time and made us more comfortable
with what will happen once we check into the hospital. We're very excited - this week Laura is considered "full term", so it's a waiting game!
We spent the weekend trying to get together all of Jonathan's old baby clothes to rummage what we can for Laura's big arrival! Josh also got to attend the Redskins football game (lucky for me, they lost!), while Jonathan and I took a trip to the library. I could hardly believe that my temp started at work
this week - that makes the baby's birth seem so CLOSE! We spent the latter part of the week with our families for Thanksgiving - pictures are up on Jonathan's Fall picture pages. At my doctor's appointment, I am now 90% effaced and 1 cm dilated. Progress, but nothing so radical as to assume I'll go into labor tomorrow. The doctor would like me to deliver within a week of my due date, so next time I see him (on my due date), he will try stripping my membranes to stimulate labor.
You know me, I had to do some research to find out more:
Week 40
We started the weekend with finishing touches on the basement. I have to admit it's not COMPLETELY done, but it's so close that it could be years before we're officially finished and we wouldn't care! Some new pictures for you to enjoy:
Since Laura's due date is this week, we've stepped up preparing for her arrival by setting up her bassinet, getting our bags (mine for the hospital and Jonathan's for his overnight stay with relatives) in the car. We have to wait to finish setting up her room until the bedding and decor I ordered arrive (Thursday). But we're almost there! I wanted to let you all know that as of today, November 27th, I haven't given birth yet! More information soon!
Week 40+
For now, I've been spending more time setting up Laura's room - I'll post pictures as soon as it's presentable.
LAURA ARRIVES! -- FRIDAY, December 9, 2005:
At 1:27pm on Friday the 9th, Laura finally made her appearance. Mom and baby are doing well.
For Laura's web site, head over to this page...
Josh and I went to the doctor on Friday, and it turns out I haven't progessed any in the past week. As I said before, he (the doctor) doesn't want me to go more than a week past my due date, since I had some complications when Jonathan was born. So, the fact that I hadn't progressed really concerned him (and us). The good news is that when they put me on the fetal montior, the baby is still very active with a great heart rate, so there is no immediate need for delivery. After a lengthy discussion with the doctor, we all decided that Wednesday will be our final decision date. So, Wednesday morning I have an appointment scheduled, where they'll check to see if I've progressed again. If I still haven't progressed, they will schedule me for a repeat c-section, most likely on Friday - Monday at the latest. If I *have* progressed and my cervix is "favorable," they will schedule me for an induction (also on either Friday or Monday). So, bottom line is I'll know more on Wednesday.